With its more than 16,000 employees at more than 150 sites in 36 countries, the Oerlikon Group develops solutions for leading industrial applications and for the markets of the future. This makes the Oerlikon Group one of the world’s most innovative industrial conglomerates. The Oerlikon Group services a wide variety of markets throughout the world. The Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum business unit supplies vacuum technology for the process industry, the machine and construction industry, solar cells, thin layer coating, design of analytical instruments for the industry as well as for institutes and universities in research development.

For more information, see www.oerlikon.de

Perfection with DST-DEGREEZ®

This is the fundamental requirement of Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum where quality will not be compromised. The cleaned parts for the Leybold production must be perfectly clean which Leybold achieved with DST-DEGREEZ®.

At the end of 2008, Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum and DST-CHEMICALS A/S met for the first time. The acting manager for the assembly department, Bert Bendermacher, was not fully satisfied with the washing result at the time. and was also keen to lower the temperature from 70°C to save money. The wish to save money for energy was not the only one: He also saw a potential for improvements in the subsequent manual cleaning of the parts thereby improving working conditions for the employees. At the time, each washed part had to be wiped with alcohol as the part would be degreased but not free from particles and during this process, the parts had a temperature of 50°C. This high temperature also prevented assembly directly after the wash as the parts had to cool down. It’s crucial for the assembly parts for the vacuum pump to be perfectly clean and dry.

The conversion to DST-DEGREEZ®

Was realised in the start of 2009. The conversion was implemented in collaboration between DST-CHEMICALS’ technicians and Dieter Lehmler from Elektro Klima Entfettung who is responsible for all renovation and maintenance of machines and optimising and changing the wash media at Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum. Two Dürr plants washing cast iron and aluminium were converted at the same time. The temperature was lowered to 45°C, thus reducing energy consumption by impressive 42% per plant. Moreover, manual cleaning of the parts before assembly was rendered superfluous as the parts now exit the washing plant perfectly free from grease and particles. Bath lives have also been maximised. After 36 months using the same wash bath, Dieter Lehmler put it to the test. He simply had to know the state of the washing machine. The bath was thus changed after 3 years – and it was not even necessary! As a result, the costs for disposal, additional payroll costs for weekend work, water for new filling of the plants and electricity for reheating have been drastically reduced. ’DST-CHEMICALS’ instructions for weekly measurements of the bath’s pH and conductivity are extremely easy to observe and provide a perfect indication of the bath’s condition and when a bath change is required’, says Dieter Lehmler. Bert Bendermacher is satisfied; the washing process has been optimised 100%

Eigil Jørgensen

Internal Technician

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